The Best Coffee Cake in the World

I have a lot of history with coffee cake. Growing up, my mom and her girlfriends would sit around the dining room table to gossip and eat an Entenmann’s coffee cake, the long, skinny kind with cream cheese and raspberry jam on the top. That cake was always too sweet for me, but I also remember thinking that it would be so cool to be a grown-up and be able to sit around with my friends and “drink coffee and swear” (which is what we kids called it.)

Several years ago, I flipped through Ina Garten’s Parties cookbook and stopped to drool at the sour cream coffee cake photo. I don’t remember why I first made the cake, but I have made it at least 100 times since then. I’ve added nuts, jams and jellies (especially holiday jam at Christmastime), apricot preserves. I’ve doubled the streusel to make an even thicker layer of it in the center of the cake, because that crunchy, cinnamon-laced ribbon is my favorite part.

It’s not the fanciest or fussiest coffee cake in the world, but after sampling my fair share of cakes, I can tell you that this is the best one I’ve ever tasted. Grab yourself a pastry cutter (it makes forming the streusel much easier) and give it a whirl.

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

For the streusel, place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble. Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a knife. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup streusel. Spoon the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Carefully transfer the cake, streusel side up, onto a serving plate. Whisk the confectioners’ sugar and maple syrup together, adding a few drops of water if necessary, to make the glaze runny. Drizzle as much as you like over the cake with a fork or spoon.

With apologies for the delayed response (your girl was traveling SO MUCH), the winner of the Art’s Pub giveaway is Caroline Brooks! Caroline, you’ve got a gift card coming your way!